November 26, 2013

Orr Wears One Hat Well

Orr, the Emergency Manager for Detroit, is great as a bankruptcy attorney. The creditors and their attorney's are also doing their job. No creditor told former city officials "it is OK if you don't meet your obligations. We will just tell our shareholders, many of whom are pension funds from some other states, they are not going to get the return on their investment they expected because we had to help out the folks in Detroit."

Both parties entered the transactions with their eyes wide open and if they didn't shame on them. It is not fair to now refer to the lenders as Shylocks. They are doing their job. Someone is not going to come out whole in this transaction and it will be up to the courts to decide who.

Detroit will be better served if Orr is relieved of his operational duties as soon as possible. This will significantly improve the city's chances of coming out the winner in the bankruptcy. By relieving Orr of the duties to hire other consultants it will also improve the control over the bankruptcy and its cost. Snyder needs to take action and reorganize including giving Duggan control over operations.